Des Anthony Guitars » Supplies for Making a Guitar

Guitar shape workboard

desanthony — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:28:51 +0000

3/4 inch plywood workboard

: hand circle cutter

Dremel router with circle cutting attachment

: 2 routers and a hand purfling cutter

This acoustic guitar is going to be made on a plywood workboard with adjustable dowel posts. Any size guitar can be made on this board. The guitar is made upside down. The rosette is inlaid into the top first, the soundhole is then cut out, then the top is turned over and is placed facedown on the workboard.The braces and bridge plate are glued on, then the tailblock and neckblock, then the sides are attached with the kerfing, then the back goes on last. The neck block will have a tenon joint, and this will be bolted to the neck. Special bolts are available from Bunnings hardware, or Stewmac.com. I normally do a dovetail joint, but it requires special jigs and bits. A bolt-on neck is more manageable for a beginner. The hand circle cutter is available from Stewmac, but you have to assemble it yourself. I used mine for at least 25years. It is a great tool. If you can’t get a router, then there is the hand purfling cutter, but be warned, it is very hard going. Of course, you can make your guitar without any binding at all, and it will still look attractive (Takamine comes to mind).

Luthier tools

desanthony — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:54:41 +0000

The aim of this blog is to show how to make an acoustic guitar . Before we get into the nuts and bolts of it, we have to look ahead a little , to see what we will need in the way of tools required for the job ahead. It is not my aim to send people broke by investing heavily in big equipment, but rather choose a few indespensible hand tools and outsource parts of the work that requires heavier tools.

A solid workbench and a closed in area is a good place to start.My first guitar was made in the tropics, under a house, and I think I could count the number of tools I had on one hand. I had to leave the workbench clean after every time I used it. This first guitar took me a year to make, but it suffered I guess from being moved around so much while still in the construction phase. At that time (’74),there were no cheap benches around, but now there are $120 ones from hardware stores.You just have to assemble it yourself. These benches are plenty big enough to do guitar work on.

The quickest way to make progress on making a guitar would be to purchase all the wood precut to approximate size, and then do the marking out and design. The tools you will most need are:

1. Saws: tenon saw, fretsaw, coping saw, razor saw.

2. Planes: block plane,small hand plane, spokeshave.

3. Scraper blades.

4.Clamps: wooden klempsia cam type, metal long reach ‘g’ clamps, camping pegs.

5. Knives: a selection of hobby knives.

6. Drill bits from 1/16″ to 1/2″, brad point type as well as the normal type.

7. Measuring rulers: 12″ long to 36″ long.

8.Machine square, Vernier caliper.

9. Swivelling vice. (Versa vice, USA)

10. Router, with specialist bits.

11. Sharpening equipment: diamond leveling stones.

Most of these tools are available from local hardware stores and hobby shops, but the specialist luthier tools are available from www.stewmac.com or www.australianluthiersupplies.com or www.guitarwoods.com

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General Supplies for Making a Guitar

admin — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 00:16:51 +0000

When making a guitar whether you are making a standard guitar or a custom guitar, there are many considerations to make. Generally, you have to stick to the shapes that are always used. The ways you can deviate from the norm with a handmade guitar is by using more exotic woods and a different range of color not usually seen on guitars you find in a store.

The size and shapes of the guitars will affect their sound. Larger, gloomier sounds will come from a bigger guitar. Smaller-bodies produce sounds that are not as loud. Besides the shape of the guitars, one of the biggest tasks involved in guitar-making is researching and learning the qualities of different woods. I personally use spruce wood for the sound boards. Other popular choices for the sound board are the western red cedar and the red wood from America. Australian wood called hoop pine and the King William pine that comes from Tasmania. Obtaining the wood for your guitar making project can be fairly expensive. Depending on the quality and type of wood used, you can spend around $15 to $100 buying a top.

The tools required to make a guitar are few. Basically, you could make one on your own kitchen table. But a list of general tools needed is as follows: good hand saws, good hand planes, a couple of good, sharpened chisels, little saws to cut fret slots, a miter box to hold your saw and saw the frets, and a band saw. An electric band saw helps to cut the larger pieces of wood and should run a continuous blade saw around two wheels. A router is also essential for cutting the little ledge around the edge of the instrument where you fit the plastic or wood binding.

In addition to the physical supplies needed to make guitars, you also need to have a commitment to doing the work. The process is not week-long. It takes time to do the steps correctly and in the appropriate order. You need to be comfortable and able to work with your hands. Patience is also necessary when making a guitar if you plan to see the project through to the end.